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Stanford to host more online classes

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Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#21

Post by plinkplonk »

karpathy wrote: post #9

I get easily excited about education-related topics so I may be over-reacting, but I think these classes will jump-start an educational revolution, and that people will start to fully appreciate just how inefficient traditional teaching methods are. Some people like to say that this is nothing new because video lectures were posted on the internet for several years now (for example MIT Open Courseware etc.), but I th…

" I'm a CS PhD student at Stanford and I am a (voluntary) co-creator of the programming assignments for the current ML class. It is a lot of work, but the way I see it, we only have to put great assignments together a single time, and thousands of people can enjoy them and benefit from them for years and years to come. That is what I call time well spent."

As a consumer of Stanford's online classes(though not the ML class. I'm waiting for the CS 229 - vs the CS 229A - version), let me take the opportunity to thank you. Your efforts are totally appreciated. You are right, this is revolutionary. Glad to see that Stanford is keeping up (and building!) momentum rather than this being a one off effort.

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#22

Post by karpathy »

amirmc wrote: post #15
karpathy wrote: post #9

I get easily excited about education-related topics so I may be over-reacting, but I think these classes will jump-start an educational revolution, and that people will start to fully appreciate just how inefficient traditional teaching methods are. Some people like to say that this is nothing new because video lectures were posted on the internet for several years now (for example MIT Open Courseware etc.), but I th…

The homework and in-video questions are what keep me involved. I have such a busy schedule that its difficult to maintain the discipline to simply keep up if there were only videos. However, having external deadlines and practical things have encouraged me to make the time (and I'm very happy about it). I agree that this is potentially revolutionary. Before these courses, I couldn't have imagined doing a 'distance-le…

thanks, I agree with you-- there is something psychologically interesting about it that I can't quite understand, but it certainly seems like this format better maintains student motivation. It's a step in the right direction at least... just the first iteration of a gradient descent ahead of us ;)

Also, good point about the programming exercises. Especially with topics like this I think it is easy to fall into trap of thinking you "got it" if you just watch the videos. Programming exercises force you to think it through on a whole different level and, I think, lead to better understanding and retention.

Anyway, great, I hope you stick with the class!

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#23

Post by thomas11 »

dirtyaura wrote: post #4
lambada wrote: post #2

Although I had to drop the previous classes due to time, this looks promising. Particularly with the unified style; that is the one thing that seemed to hurt this years effort - The most widely advertised course (AI) had the worst layout and 'features'.

Both ML and DB classes are better executed than AI class. AI class is backed with a broken platform by a small startup, whereas ML class was run by code developed in Stanford. AI class also had jarring video editing which totally broke the rhythm. Both ML class and e.g. Khan Academy has this natural flow that is pleasure to follow. To me it has been surprising how big difference in experience the technical execution…

I'm doing ai-class and I find it just fine. After the first two weeks, all the technology worked just fine - what problems are you referring to?

The video editing is also fine. If such minor issues break your rhythm, you might need to rethink your approach to the lessons.

Given that there are still thousands of students in the class and enjoying it, it didn't "fail" at all.

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#24

Post by larrykubin »

frobozz wrote: post #7
lambada wrote: post #2

Although I had to drop the previous classes due to time, this looks promising. Particularly with the unified style; that is the one thing that seemed to hurt this years effort - The most widely advertised course (AI) had the worst layout and 'features'.

What kind of time commitment does it require?

I started out spending closer to 10 hours a week earlier on in the AI course. We initially had a local meetup and I spent more time reading the textbook for the first few units. Had to scale it back to 5 or so hours, which is good enough to get through it, but not enough to spend extra time discussing with others, reading supplementary materials, and coding.

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#25

Post by giulivo »

lambada wrote: post #19

Anyone know if AI-Class will be running again in 2012? The links between the 2012 courses suggest not, but that could just be down to Ai-Class being different.

+1

also, what about the DB class ? will it be running again in 2012 ?

I couldn't "attend" more than one at the same time (especially the advanced tracks) and I already joined the ML class.

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#26

Post by VMG »

thomas11 wrote: post #23
dirtyaura wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both ML and DB classes are better executed than AI class. AI class is backed with a broken platform by a small startup, whereas ML class was run by code developed in Stanford. AI class also had jarring video editing which totally broke the rhythm. Both ML class and e.g. Khan Academy has this natural flow that is pleasure to follow. To me it has been surprising how big difference in experience the technical execution…

I'm doing ai-class and I find it just fine. After the first two weeks, all the technology worked just fine - what problems are you referring to? The video editing is also fine. If such minor issues break your rhythm, you might need to rethink your approach to the lessons. Given that there are still thousands of students in the class and enjoying it, it didn't "fail" at all.

I quit early because the platform was unusable (slow, buggy)

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#27

Post by karpathy »

plinkplonk wrote: post #21
karpathy wrote: post #9

I get easily excited about education-related topics so I may be over-reacting, but I think these classes will jump-start an educational revolution, and that people will start to fully appreciate just how inefficient traditional teaching methods are. Some people like to say that this is nothing new because video lectures were posted on the internet for several years now (for example MIT Open Courseware etc.), but I th…

" I'm a CS PhD student at Stanford and I am a (voluntary) co-creator of the programming assignments for the current ML class. It is a lot of work, but the way I see it, we only have to put great assignments together a single time, and thousands of people can enjoy them and benefit from them for years and years to come. That is what I call time well spent." As a consumer of Stanford's online classes(though not the ML…

thanks, I should add (and I hope this is somewhat obvious) that there is a team of about 7 or 8 of us in total. A lot of work goes into site/technical/video processing etc, and then there are 2.5 of us making the assignments.

The real hero behind the assignments is Jiquan Ngiam (http://cs.stanford.edu/~jngiam/) who is in charge and does most of the work. He is awesome, brilliant, very hard working, and I thoroughly enjoy hacking with him on the ML class until late AM.

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#28

Post by NnamdiJr »

This is very exciting news, very much an autodidact's dream.

I've been enjoying crawling my way through the great ML classes by Prof Andrew Ng, and had been wondering if by any luck other classes would be provided for future semesters. Seeing this just makes me really happy, and thankful to Stanford. Not only is it the future of education but also gives countless people around the globe a chance to learn topics they may otherwise have never had access to (I am one in this category).

Signing up for NLP!

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#29

Post by LaGrange »

thomas11 wrote: post #23
dirtyaura wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both ML and DB classes are better executed than AI class. AI class is backed with a broken platform by a small startup, whereas ML class was run by code developed in Stanford. AI class also had jarring video editing which totally broke the rhythm. Both ML class and e.g. Khan Academy has this natural flow that is pleasure to follow. To me it has been surprising how big difference in experience the technical execution…

I'm doing ai-class and I find it just fine. After the first two weeks, all the technology worked just fine - what problems are you referring to? The video editing is also fine. If such minor issues break your rhythm, you might need to rethink your approach to the lessons. Given that there are still thousands of students in the class and enjoying it, it didn't "fail" at all.

They work, but they're less usable than the db and ml counterparts.

On the other hand, the videos themselves are actually better (I love the pen-and-paper approach), and there's a lot more small questions within lectures, which helps keeping my ADD in check.

Re: Stanford to host more online classes

#30

Post by ramkalari »

MIT OCW requires a far higher level of intrinsic motivation. Stanford has almost nailed it. While online learning has taken Space out of the equation, Time, it seems, is still a big variable. Having people do the course at the same time with deadlines is working. They just need to work through the technical glitches, which shouldn't be that hard.
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